Your Guide to Engagement and Wedding Rings

The engagement ring and wedding bands will most likely be the most valuable pieces of your wedding. Not only are they important elements of your marriage, but they’re also a long-lasting symbol of commitment and love you and your partner have for each other. Therefore, you would want to choose timeless and high quality pieces that will endure the time. Ultimately, you would also want to be an informed consumer who knows what you’re getting in your every dollar.

Men’s Wedding Rings

A man’s wedding ring is an expression of his passion and love to his wife. Many Singapore couples choose to match their rings—choosing the same metal, design, and/or motif. Other grooms go for a ring that fits their taste and lifestyle. Either way, men have a good array of options for wedding rings. The most popular, however, are the plain metal bands and diamond studded bands.

Women’s Wedding Rings

It’s a tradition for Singapore brides to wear the wedding ring closest to the heart and the proposal ring on the same finger, atop the wedding ring. Many would consider a lovely ring for my engagement in Singapore as a diamond ring, although there might be other variations you can consider like precious stones. If you also follow this tradition, consider how the rings match together.

• Perfect Match
Some rings are meant to be worn together, one over the other. Many brides like the symmetry of matching rings, with gemstones of the same shape and size or of the same type of band.

• Unique Combination
The bride may like another ring other than the one that matches her proposal ring. This combination creates a unique look that’s becoming more and more popular today. This is also the style favoured by women who prefer to wear their engagement and wedding rings on separate hands. If this is the case, there’s really no need to incorporate the design of one ring to the other.

Metal Choices

Many couples choose the metal of their wedding bands according to the material used on the engagement ring of the bride. However, there’s no need to limit the options for this. The bride and the groom can wear a similar style of ring in different metals, or the bride can wear her rings in separate hands so there’s no need to match the engagement and wedding rings. Here are the popular options for ring metals.

• Gold
This is the most traditional choice for wedding band metal. For many, gold symbolizes warmth and love of a marriage. Notice the mark on the insides of the bands to see the quality of the gold-, which usually comes in 14k, 18k, and 24k. While 24k is the purest, it’s also the softest. If your lifestyle calls for frequent use of hands, choose either 14k or 18k to avoid scratches.

• White Gold
White gold is a popular choice as it coordinates well with both platinum and silver jewellery, yet cheaper than platinum.

• Platinum
This stylish metal is also the hardest one, symbolizing an unconditional and enduring love. Also, because it’s not mixed with other metal, platinum is safe for people with allergies. However, expect to pay more for this than for gold.

Gemstone

When choosing gems for wedding rings, it’s important to remember that these rings are going to be worn for a lifetime. While softer stones posses unique beauty, they are not the most ideal choices for an engagement or wedding ring. To know a gemstone’s ability to resist abrasion, check for its Mohs scale—10 (diamonds) is the strongest and 1 (talc) is the weakest. Any stone that’s below 7 in the Mohs scale isn’t recommended for wedding rings. It’s also worth knowing that a gemstone that’s darker in colour comes with a heftier price.

The wedding rings are perhaps your first major investments, and these jewelleries are going to stick with you throughout the years. Make sure you’re spending your money on the right pieces by keeping this essential guide in mind.